Image from http://www.getreligion.org/2012/02/race-religion-maryland-and-gay-marriage/

“Marriage has been between one man and one woman since the beginning of time.”

–Maryland Delegate Michael J. Hough, R-Frederick

Delegate Hough has an interesting notion of “the beginning of time”. It must have taken place sometime after Old Testament folk like King Solomon and his 700 wives had expired. (The 300 concubines we won’t worry about since they weren’t exactly “wife” material…)

Although Hough and the rest of us will probably never know when the beginning of time really was, there’s no doubt that it’s certainly time for the Maryland House of Delegates to vote upon the gay marriage bill sponsored by Governor O’Malley.

The bill proceeded to the House on Tuesday after being approved by two House committees. Last year, a gay marriage bill died in the house after some delegates, including a number of black Democrats, refused to support it due to religious beliefs.

Now, the bill is back, and many proposed amendments have been rejected, including one that would’ve allowed parents to opt out of school programs that discuss gay marriage and offered teachers exemption from teaching it.

However, Delegate Kathleen Dumais, D-Montgomery, who is a supporter of the bill, says advocates may be willing to accept a few minor changes to the bill on the house floor.

Other delegates hope for more significant amendments to the legislation. Sam Arora, D-Montgomery, for example, hopes it will be amended to support civil unions instead of gay marriage.

But many same-sex marriage supporters argue that settling for civil unions sets us back into the times of “separate but equal.”

Will there be enough support in the House to pass the legislation? Or is the bill bound to face the failure it saw last year yet again?

We at USDemocrazy will be watching and sharing updates.. like we have since the “beginning of time”.